NICMOS can see the universe at near-infrared wavelengths more sensitively
and in sharper detail than any other existing or planned telescope. What does
that mean to astronomers? Infrared light, which falls between visible and
radio waves on the electromagnetic spectrum, isn’t absorbed or scattered
like visual light by the clouds of gas and dust found abundantly in the universe.
Therefore, astronomers are able to see newly forming stars and measure the
properties of the disks of dust particles believed to give birth to planetary
systems. They are able to peer into the centers of galaxies, including our
Milky Way, to study quasars and other exotic objects.

University of Arizona Professor Rodger Thompson and a 16-member science
team developed the instrument.